Movie: A Cozy Christmas Inn
Starring: Jodie Sweetin, David O'Donnell
Network: Hallmark Channel
Synopsis: Real estate exec, Erika, travels to Alaska during the holidays to acquire a B&B, only to discover it's owned by her ex. Soon she is falling in love with the town and quite possibly him.
⚠🛑 Disclaimer: This review may contain movie spoilers
Rating (out of 5 stars): ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Review:
Cozy Christmas Inn has certainly been the talk of the town over the last week. Boy do some people have some thoughts on this sequel to the 2014 Hallmark movie "Christmas Under Wraps." For me...I haven't watched "Christmas Under Wraps" for awhile so I decided to go into this movie and pretend it was a standalone. I figured it would be best to just treat it as an original movie and forget that it was a sequel. With all that out of the way...this movie was not bad. It was your typical Hallmark movie but sometimes that's ok by me.
Plot
This plot was NOT original at all. It is one of the most over used plots by Hallmark and their counter parts...a city girl goes to a small town to try and convince the owner of a struggling inn to sell. If she achieves that...she will be promoted. Same plot...different movie. But wait a twist...the owner of the inn is an ex-boyfriend? Wait...no that's a common plot too. Girl has a change of heart and saves the inn but decides she wants to stay and give up the promotion for a chance at love with the small town guy. Yup>>>same old story. Normally I'd be rolling my eyes but the day I watched this I just wanted a no thinking movie with a familiar ending. So because I was in the right frame of mind...I liked it.
I liked the connection between David and Erika being exes from back in their days in the city. I am so used to the girl being the one leaving the ex from the small town that this was a change. A change that she was the one dumped by the guy so he could go back. There was history and history that wasn't resolved as he left abruptly without any true explanation. Because of that there were some conversations that needed to happen and some unresolved feelings which I liked. I do think that the why of him leaving could have been expanded on but nonetheless I liked this component.
The towns folk I thought were super annoying but that was to be expected. They are hiding a "secret" so they are supposed to be a bit weird so they certainly accomplished this aspect quite well.
I did not like how David's father was never in the same room as David. The zoom calls and phone calls got to be too much and I would have liked to see them have a conversation in person. I didn't see why David couldn't make a trip out to see his dad. Some of these conversations warranted a face to face meeting. It's not like the dad was thousands of miles away either. They are based in the same small town so get in your truck or even walk over to you dad's place.
Chemistry & Performances
David O'Donnell - Nothing special with the performance of David O'Donnell in this one. He's a talented actor and he did the best that he could with what was written for him. His character was a bit dull and really an unsure, unsuccessful man. He sold his lucrative airplane taxi business to run an inn that is going under. He lacked vision or confidence really. I didn't see much with him and he certainly was alot less confident then he appeared in the first movie. Yes I know I was to watch this and not compare but this really stood out to me as he seemed completely different to the first movie from what I remember.
Jodie Sweetin - I enjoyed Jodie Sweetin in this one. This is probably one of the better movies that she has done for Hallmark. She was confident, mature and really stood out in some scenes.
Chemistry -The chemistry between the leads was quite good. I did feel the awkward tension when they first saw each other again and was also able to feel their emotions that were left unsaid. I enjoyed them in this as a couple.
Vivica A. Fox - LOVE her. I did not know that she was in this movie and it was a welcome surprise. She is beautiful and strong and that resonates in her character. Would have love to see her more in this one.
Stand-outs or questions
Gift exchange - OK so the fact that they both picked each others name for the gift exchange was ridiculous. But even more ridiculous was that her gift to him was that she was giving up her job and promotion to be with him and work in a struggling inn and he named a star after her. Barf. Some serious eye rolls were happening in my house at the time. So ridiculous.
Catch phrase - If I have to hear "That's Garland for you" one more time I think I will scream. Seriously this was way over used and lost any charm whatsoever in my books.
Humour - There were some elements of humour mixed in the movie that worked quite well. This was particularly evident in the diner scenes with the older couple that had a mutual crush on each other.
Final Thoughts
I am glad that I decided to watch this movie without thinking about its ties to a previous movie. I think it helped that I have not seen Christmas Under Wraps for a few years and cannot remember it. Having said that, I'm not the biggest fan of CCB so am not as impacted by her "replacement" as some others may be. I found this movie to be enjoyable. It was what it was...a regular Hallmark plot with a feel good story and ending. Nothing spectacular but a good watch.
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